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The Art of the Nara Period

THE Nara period, especially the eighth century, was the golden age of Japanese Buddhist art. This epoch, which extends from the middle of the seventh to the end of the eighth century, is usually divided into two parts, the Early Nara period, from 646 to 710, which is also called Hakuho after the reign of the Emperor Temmu, and the Nara period proper which lasted from 710, when the capital was established at Nara, to 794, when it was moved to Heian-Kyo, as the present-day Kyoto was called. (This latter part is also referred to as the Tempyō period after the reign of the Emperor Shomu, 729 to 748, which was the most important of the entire period.)

To the Japanese of the time, the city of Nara must have seemed unbelievably splendid. It was modelled after the T'ang capital of Ch'ang-an, and like the Chinese city it abounded in temples and palaces and broad streets which were laid out in a grid pattern. The Nara age was completely dominated by Chinese thought and Chinese culture, and the Japanese, no longer content with visiting Korea, went to the Middle Kingdom itself, which, under the powerful T'ang dynasty (618-907), was experiencing one of the great epochs in its political as well as cultural history. Just as the Japanese of the Meiji period went abroad to study the West, so the Nara Japanese travelled to the Middle Kingdom to learn from China. Contemporary records tell of scholars, priests, artists, writers, statesmen, political philosophers, businessmen, and technicians who went to study in China. Many stayed for years and others never returned, so great was the lure of this ancient civilization. It must be said that T'ang China was magnificent not only by the standards of the less sophisticated Japanese but by any other standards, for the Chinese at that time were perhaps the most civilized people in the world.

Far-reaching political and social reforms were undertaken in imitation of the Tang society, reforms which have had a profound effect upon Japanese culture. For a study of the arts, however, the influence of Chinese thought and especially of Chinese art is far more important. Confucianism, with its ancestor worship and its emphasis upon obedience to the emperor, was very influential, and Buddhism, which practically became the official religion, almost completely absorbed Shintoism. The result was a form of Shinto known as Ryōbu-Shinto, according to which the national gods were nothing but manifestations of the Buddha, a doctrine proclaimed by the monk Gyōgi (670-749), who taught that the Buddha and the Sun Goddess were really the same.

In Buddhism itself a greater diversification took place. Among the numerous sects of the period, the most important were the so-called six sects of Nara. The oldest of these was the Hossō sect which had its center at Hōryū-ji (where it still continues today) and at Kōfuku-ji. It was first introduced to China from India by the famous pilgrim Hsiian Tsang, and its central doctrine was the belief that the only true reality was consciousness. The Ritsu sect stressed ritual rather than doctrine, and its most famous exponent was the Chinese monk Ganjin, who, after six attempts, had finally reached Japan in 753, and whose teachings were very successful. Another branch, in some ways the most influential of all, was the Kegon sect, which had its center at Tōdai-ji, also called the great Kegon temple. It was based on the Avatamsaka sutra which taught that the historical Buddha Shaka is only one manifestation of the cosmic and omnipresent Buddha Roshana, or Vairocana, as he is called in Sanskrit. In the teachings of this school, the supreme Buddha Roshana is said to dwell upon a giant lotus with a thousand petals, each representing a universe and each of these in turn having myriad worlds. This doctrine appealed greatly to the people of the Nara period, and it was especially popular at the court, where the emperor was seen as the earthly counterpart of the Buddha Roshana. How important these sects had become is best seen by the fact that at the end of the seventh century the number of temples had increased to over five hundred.

The growth of interest in Buddhist thought naturally led to an increase in the study of Chinese writing and literature. In fact one might say that the ability to read Chinese, which was, of course, absolutely essential for the study of Buddhist texts as well as the Confucian classics, became the mark of a cultured man. Various copies of the sacred writings were made, many of them beautifully written and illuminated. This was done not only for utilitarian purposes, but also because it was hoped that such pious acts would accumulate merit in heaven both for the copyist and for the person who commissioned him. A secular literature developed along with the sacred one, although its progress was less rapid. The first history of Japan, the Kojiki, or Record of Ancient Matters, was compiled in 712 following the Chinese custom of writing dynastic histories. Even more important was the first great book of poetry, the Manyoshu, or Collection of a Myriad Leaves, containing more than four thousand poems, almost all of which were written during the Nara period. To this day the collection, which is regarded as the finest in the Japanese language, is read widely by all classes of people. The writing used in it is a mixture of Chinese characters read in the Japanese way and an early form of kana, or Japanese writing, called manyogana. Although influenced by Chinese poems, particularly the Book of Poetry, these lyrics show a marked Japanese quality both in their spirit and form.

As for the visual arts, the contact with T'ang China could not have been more fortunate, for this period was one of the most splendid in the history of Chinese art. The Emperor Shomu, himself an ardent patron both of Buddhism and Buddhist art, gave further stimulus to the development. In 741 he issued an edict commanding that a temple and a seven-story pagoda be erected in each province as an indication that Buddhism was the dominant religion not only at the capital but in all parts of the realm. For each of these temples he had ten copies of the Lotus sutra, or Hokke-kyo, made, and we are told that the Emperor himself copied some of the texts in golden letters for enshrinement in the pagodas. The single most spectacular event of his reign was the construction of the temple of Tōdai-ji at Nara with the image of the Great Buddha Vairocana. Unfortunately neither has survived in its original form and the reconstructions which stand today are quite inferior. The hall was the largest wooden building in the world and the giant Buddha, or Daibutsu, was fifty-three feet high and contained over a million pounds of metal. The whole enterprise, which took several decades to complete, was the most ambitious the Japanese had undertaken. The temple complex was laid out on a grand scale, comprising, in addition to the huge Buddha hall, two large seven-story pagodas, splendid gates, halls of worship and study, as well as numerous other buildings for the use of the monks. The giant image of the cosmic Buddha was begun in 747 and, after many difficulties, completed in 749, and three years later the so-called "eye-opening ceremony" took place, an event recently commemorated at the twelve hundredth anniversary of this day. There was a splendid gathering of Buddhist notables from all over Japan as well as the rest of the Buddhist world, and it is reported that no less than ten thousand monks attended the ceremony, many of them from China and Korea and even India. The celebrations surpassed in splendor anything Japan had ever witnessed, and the Emperor and his court and even the humblest of citizens took part in the magnificent pageant.

The many opportunities offered to the artists and craftsmen, and the importations from T'ang China as well as the visits of Japanese artists to the Celestial Realm proved very stimulating to the arts. The result was such a flowering of creative activity, especially in the city of Nara, that this age is justly regarded as the greatest period of Japanese Buddhist art.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE NARA PERIOD

Of the many buildings erected during the Nara period, few remain today. At Tōdai-ji only the famous Imperial Repository, or Shōsō-in, which is built in a log-cabin style and located on the temple grounds behind the main hall, is of eighth-century origin. Even the lovely little Hokkedō, or Sanjugatsudo, was added to at a later date (it stands on a hillside to the east of the Great Buddha Hall), so today the original design can only be studied, from the back. None of the Nara buildings are left at the famous Hossō sect monastery of Kōfuku-ji, and at Yakushi-ji, another of the great temples of the period, the only structure of Nara date is one of the two pagodas. This is of particular interest not only for the intermediate stories which were added to the three main ones, but also because it is the only authentic building from the second half of the seventh century. The most important temple for the study of eighth-century architecture is Tōshōdai-ji, which at the time was part of Nara but today is outside of the city. At this temple, founded in 759 by the famous Chinese monk Ganjin, the great teacher of the Ritsu sect, both the kondo and the hpdo have been preserved, and although the pagoda and the surrounding cloister have perished, some of the smaller buildings such as the sutra repository and the treasure house have also survived.